The present invention pertains to electric outboard motor assemblies of the type shown generally in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,887 issued Sept. 23, 1975 and entitled "Electric Outboard Motor" and more specifically pertains to a planetary gear system for easy and quick connection between the electric motor drive shaft and the propeller drive shaft.
A prior art example of a planetary gear assembly insuch an environment is shown generally in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,009,677 which issued Mar. 1, 1977 and entitled "Radial Thrust Apparatus for High Thrust Trolling Motor".
One difficulty in prior art trolling motors of this particular type lies in the difficulty and complexity of manufacturing and assembling the planetary gear system. In addition, some of these prior art systems required clamping of the internal gear ring between housing parts which further led to complications in the manufacture and assembly and disassembly operations. Furthermore, some of these prior art devices utilizes planetary gears which were suspended in cantilever fashion which contributed to backlash, wear and other problems in transmission of power through the gears, as well as problems in sustained bearing life. Special spherical bearings were required in some prior art devices to attempt to absorb the loads imposed on the transmission.